India, UAE sign five government-to-government MoUs

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the UAE began on Saturday evening with the two countries signing five government-to-government MoUs in his presence along with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.

The MoUs signed and exchanged are related to energy sector, railways, manpower and financial services.

An MoU between Indian Consortium (OVL, BPRL & IOCL) and ADNOC was signed for acquisition of 10 percent participating interest in the offshore Lower Zakum Concession, a statement from the Indian embassy in Abu Dhabi said.

The concession will be for 40 years from 2018 to 2057, 60 percent of the participating interest will be retained by ADNOC and remaining 30 percent will be awarded to other International oil companies, said the statement.

This is the first Indian Investment in upstream oil sector of UAE, transforming the traditional buyer-seller relationship to a long-term investor relationship.

Manpower agreement

In the field of manpower, the two governments signed an MoU that aims to institutionalize the collaborative administration of contractual employment of Indian workers in UAE.

Under the MoU both the sides will work to integrate their labor related e-platforms for ending the existing malpractices, combat trafficking and organize collaborative programs for education and awareness of contractual workers.

An MoU for Technical Cooperation in rail sectorwas also signed between Ministry of Railways, India and Federal Transport Authority - Land & Maritime of UAE. The MoU aims at cooperation in Infrastructure sector, especially Railways.

The MoU will facilitate development of Joint Projects, Knowledge Sharing, Joint Research and Technology Transfer. The MoU envisages formation of a Joint Working Group for institutionalizing the cooperation mechanism.

To deepen bilateral cooperation in the field of finance, an MoU between Bomby Stock Exchange (BSE) and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) was signed and exchanged. It aims at enhancing cooperation between both the countries in financial services industry. The MoU envisages information exchange, exchange of experts and training for mutual benefit of both the countries. The MoU would facilitate investment in financial markets by investors from both the countries.

An MoU between Government of Jammu and Kashmir and DP World was also signed to establish multi-modal logistics park and hub in Jammu comprising warehouses and specialized storage solutions.